Tag: life

Remember last year when I talked about wanting to move but ultimately didn’t because the timing didn’t feel right? Well, it finally does and I’m really excited about it.
For about a year we’ve been toying with the idea of moving back to Palm Springs and during our 3 week long road trip last month we finally made the decision to do it. So many signs were pointing to ‘yes’ and everything just kind of fell into place which means it’s meant to be. Among the many signs were if we stayed here our lease renewal would result in a huge rent spike AGAIN (not worth it), and we found an amazing mid-century apartment right away as if by magic. I couldn’t turn it down. Total kismet!

Don’t get me wrong, I adore Los Angeles and always will. I was born in LA and I will always consider it home, but Palm Springs is home too. I grew up there and even though as a teenager I couldn’t wait for any opportunity to get out, as an adult I look for any chance to go back. Life is weird!

I’m going to miss this view, and this apartment, and all of the memories we’ve made in it. Six years is the longest I’ve ever lived in any one home in my entire life! It’s going to be strange to leave but it’s definitely time to go. Besides, I’ll be back in LA at least two days a week because of my husband’s job, so I’ll still get my fix.
Anyway, I’m really excited for this new chapter and to share the new place with you in a few weeks. Make sure you’re following along on Instagram for all the updates that don’t make it on here!
Wish me luck…

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Hey, you guys, remember how I decided to redecorate my entire apartment instead of moving into a new one? Well, here’s a quick little update on what’s going on at House of Melodrama. I can honestly say that it’s taking longer than I intended and it’s kind of bumming me out. My husband and two dogs have all had serious health scares over the past several weeks and that has taken up a lot of time, mental and physical energy, and money. I have, however, been able to make progress in planning and prepping for some upcoming projects that I’m really excited about finishing.

First of all, I installed an easy and renter-friendly kitchen backsplash and it looks awesome! I wanted to give it a decent test run before posting about it so stay tuned for that. Here’s a little sneak peek…

This week’s project is what has been giving me the most anxiety. We’re ripping out our bedroom carpet in favor of a hard floor option and in order to clear out the bedroom to do the floor we had to put our bedroom furniture into the living room. At first it was kind of fun, but now after several weeks of pushing back the completion of the project I’m over it and can’t wait to have another useable room.

Do you like the yellow mirror? I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow. By the way, awhile back I wrote a post about my favorite mid-century inspired couch options. I picked one and I can’t wait to tell you more about it. For now here’s a picture of Mango giving it his stamp of approval. Aside from finishing up those projects there’s a couple of new IKEA hacks, upholstery projects, a renter-friendly appliance makeover, DIY art, and room reveals coming up so stick with me! –DEEP BREATH– Don’t forget you can follow along on Instagram and Snapchat for more updates.

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That song has been stuck in my head for months because that’s a question I’ve been asking myself for months. The lease for our apartment was nearing an end and it was time to make the yearly decision of whether we should renew or find a new place to live. For the past five years the decision was much easier –stay. We had no reason to leave and felt quite comfortable and in love with the little home we’ve made here. This time the decision didn’t come so easy. The reason is mostly because the latter half of last year threw some financial, emotional, and physical blows our way and some changed our lives forever. The most devastating and impactful was when our dog Pandie was attacked by another dog and subsequently traumatized and left permanently blind. That one moment changed all of our lives. For the past 6 months we have been dealing with numerous veterinary bills and visits, sleepless nights, and often times being stuck at home because Pandie’s trauma induced separation anxiety has prevented us from going out (dogless) for more than an hour at a time. I’ve had my dogs for 15 years, that’s half of my life, and they are like children to us. I would consider myself a pretty strong and adaptable person, but my dogs are my weak spot and going through all of this has been extremely heartbreaking. Even little things like no longer being able to watch Pandie race around the apartment with her brother like she used to, or even find her water bowl on her own, still breaks my heart. All of that along with the other crap life decided to throw at us lead me to the idea of a fresh start. We had too many memories of our old way of life here, so we thought that maybe moving to a new place to start our new way of life would help with the emotions that we were feeling at the time. Plus being cooped up here started to feel a little bit like that movie ‘Room’. “Hello, sink. Hello, door. Hello, egg snake.” I’m grateful that my husband and I are able to work from home, but it was starting to get a little maddening. Although things were finally getting better, we still wanted some new scenery and were in total reset mode. “Let’s just move!”, we said.

At first I was really excited! I had already been looking online periodically and felt confident that we would easily find something we loved. But something I forgot about LA is that the rental market is a jungle. By the time you even get to view an apartment and make your decision, someone else has already swept in behind you with a holding deposit in hand. Oh God, don’t get me started on DEPOSITS. A $6,000 deposit to move in PLUS first month’s rent. That’s highway robbery.

Finally after a few weeks of seriously searching, we found what we thought was the one. It had all of the things we wish we had in our current apartment, and none of the things that were on our “absolutely not” list. It had just been completely renovated with brand new everything and was shiny and bright. I loved it. I was ready to sign on the dotted line and pack my boxes that day. (You may have seen my excitement on Instagram.)But, then the more we talked about it the more we started realizing that while it had all of the things that we desired, it lacked a lot of things that we required. It had a bright brand new kitchen, but there was a serious lack of storage. The bathroom was lovely and had pretty white tile and marble floors, but it had even more of a lack of storage. In-unit washer and dryer!…in the closet leaving no room for (you guessed it) STORAGE. There was also no grass in sight for our dogs’ frequent potty trips (they’re 15, this is IMPORTANT). We would also have to sacrifice location. Right now we’re located in a great area that is walking distance from everything we need. Markets, restaurants, everything is a few steps away. That was not the case at our potential new home.

Time was up and we had to make our final decision. Do we stay or do we go? After weighing the pros and cons we decided to stay. We have everything we need here, we have great neighbors, lots of storage, and we’re near everything we like. Pandie has even started to learn her way around again! Things are looking up. Despite of everything this is still our home and I’m grateful to have it. This is actually the longest I’ve ever lived in one place in my entire life. I just realized that! I’m sure there’s a life lesson to be learned in all this.

I’m still in need of a fresh start, but instead of starting over somewhere else, I’m just starting over in the place I already have. Hopefully redecorating does the trick! Make sure you stay tuned for lots of new (rental-friendly) home decor projects. Be sure to follow on Instagram too!